Amazin'

OMG. Miracles do happen.

I have been a Mets fan for as long as I can remember. I think it was around the time of the 1973 World Series, which the Mets lost to the Oakland Athletics. I remember watching that series with my dad, in his apartment, and rooting for the Mets.

After that, I would regularly watch Mets games when I hung out with my dad (my parents were divorced), and we would have putting contests during the commercials. (My father was an avid golfer, as well as an avid Mets fan.)

One of my fondest memories from my youth was my dad taking me to Shea, sitting behind the Mets dugout, and dad getting me an authentic Mets cap and ball (lost during some move, sadly) during the game. From then on, I was hooked.

All through middle school and high school, I would watch Mets games on television on listen on the radio, going to games at Shea when I could. However, when the Mets made their historic pennant run in 1986, winning over 100 games, I was attending college in London, pretty much oblivious to what was happening at home with the Mets. So you can imagine my shock, upon returning to college that fall, to be sitting in my dorm's common room, watching the Mets play in the World Series... surrounded by Red Sox fans. (As I recall, no one came to blows.)

When the Mets made their next pennant run, in 2000, I was a new mom and in the process of moving from Chicago back to the New York Metro Area and had not really followed the Mets' exploits, or baseball, in years (devoting myself to basketball and the Chicago Bulls and Northwestern football). Indeed, to this day, I still think of Mike Piazza as a Dodger, not a Met.

Eventually, though, I returned to my first love, baseball and the Mets, and began regularly watching games some time in 2006.

As a Mets fan, I am used to disappointment. Indeed, as my husband regularly tells (teases) me, my motto is "Hope for the best, expect the worst." Though I believe that applies to pretty much every Mets fan.

Indeed, as I wrote in a previous blog post, the difference between Mets fans and Yankees fans is that Yankees fans (and St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants fans) expect their team to win and are pissed off when their team loses. Mets fans expect their team to lose and are giddy when their team wins.

So you can imagine the giddiness I and Mets fans everywhere started to feel in August when the Mets, who, just a few weeks before looked like they were headed to another .500 (or worse) season, went on a winning streak -- and just over a month later won the National League East.

Now, as anyone who knows me can tell you, I am not a religious person, though I believe in God. And it was with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek when, back on April 5th, I wrote this "Mets fan's prayer" on the eve of opening day:

Our Mets team, that art in Citi Field,
Hallowed be thy game.
Thy fans will come,
If you score some runs,
At home as on the road.
Give us this season at least 87 wins.
And forgive us our pessimism,
As we forgive those pitchers who put up Ws for us.
And lead us not into last place in the NL East,
but deliver us unto the playoffs.
Amen.

Apparently, the Lord heard me -- and one-upped me. Proof that miracles still happen. (Sorry Chicago Cubs fans. You will have to wait a bit longer for yours.)

I know that a lot of you don't care about sports, or the Mets, and I get it. I do. There are a lot more important things going on in the world than baseball and the World Series. But in a world and a time filled with so much bad news and suffering (again, my apologies, Cubs fans), the 2015 Mets are a feel-good story. And right now, at this moment, I am feeling good.

Let's go Mets! #yagottabelieve

Everything I know about the 4th of July...

I learned from watching Schoolhouse Rock.

Ooh, there's gonna be fireworks (Fireworks!)
On the Fourth of July (red, white, and blue!)
Red, white, and blue fireworks
Like diamonds in the sky. (diamonds in the sky!)
We're gonna shoot the entire works on fireworks
That really show, oh yeah,
We declared our liberty 200 years ago.

Yeah!

In 1776 (fireworks!)
There were fireworks too (red, white, and blue!)
The original colonists,
You know their tempers blew (They really blew!)
Like Thomas Paine once wrote:
It's only common sense (only common sense)
That if a government won't give you your basic rights
You'd better get another government.

And though some people tried to fight it,
Well, a committee was formed to write it:
Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston,
John Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson,
They got it done (Oh yes they did!)
The Declaration, uh-huh-huh,
The Declaration of Independence (Oh yeah!)
In seventeen hundred seventy six (Right on!)
The Continental Congress said that we were free (We're free!)
Said we had the right of life and liberty,
...And the pursuit of happiness!

Ooh, when England heard the news, (Kerpow!)
They blew their stack (They really blew their cool!)
But the colonies lit the fuse,
There'd be no turning back (no turnin' back!)
They'd had enough of injustice now
But even if it really hurts, oh yeah,
If you don't give us our freedom now
You're gonna see some fireworks!

And on the Fourth of July they signed it
And 56 names underlined it,
And now to honor those first 13 states,
We turn the sky into a birthday cake.
They got it done (Oh yes they did!)
The Declaration, uh-huh-huh,
The Declaration of Independence (Oh yeah!)
In seventeen hundred seventy six (Right on!)
The Continental Congress said that we were free (We're free!)
Said we had the right of life and liberty,
...And the pursuit of happiness!

We hold these truths to be self-evident,
That all men are created equal
And that they are endowed by their creator
With certain inalienable rights.
That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

And if there's one thing that makes me happy,
Then you know that it's (ooh)
There's gonna be fireworks!

As for me and the spouse, we'll be celebrating the Fourth of July at Citi Field with this guy, the Mets' All-Star Gnome. 

Because what's more American than baseball, beer... and garden gnomes dressed in baseball uniforms?

Wishing you all a happy -- and safe -- Fourth of July!

A Mets fan's prayer on Opening Day

Hi, I'm J., and I'm a (long-suffering) Mets fan (aka a Metsochist).

I have been a Mets fan since I was barely old enough to understand baseball, and though I have tried to root for the Yankees, I cannot. And do not even whisper the word "Phillies" around me.

Each year, on opening day of the baseball season, I think, 'maybe this will be the year -- the year the Mets make it into the playoffs, and possibly the World Series.'

Not so this year.

This year, I am just hoping the Mets stay out of last place in the National League East, a tall order considering their rivals -- the Philadelphia Phillies, the Atlanta Braves, the Jose Reyes Miami Marlins, and the ("How do you like my No. 1 draft picks, chumps?") Washington Nationals.

Seriously, you know you've hit a new low when just about every New York area beat reporter places the New York Mets in fifth place, behind the Nationals. Sigh.

While I have not entirely given up on this season (first pitch isn't until around 1:10 p.m. ET), I think "A Mets Fan's Prayer (or Lament)," which I composed, pretty much sums up this season.

Then again, the spouse and I didn't think the New York Giants had a chance of winning, let alone making it to, the Super Bowl this past season, and we all know how that turned out. (In your eye, Patriots fans!)

Anyway...

A Mets Fan's Prayer (or Lament)

Our Mets team that art in Citi Field,
Harrowing be thy game.
Your pitching sucks.
Your hitting isn't much better
at home as on the road.
Give us this day something to cheer about.
And forgive the Wilpons their debts,
as Picard has forgiven other debtors.
And lead us not into last place in the NL East,
but deliver us unto the playoffs.
Amen.

Play ball! And may the best team in the National League East (not) make it into the playoffs!

Playing hooky at Citi Field... watching the Mets trounce the Rockies 7 - 0

It's always nice when your team wins. But it's especially nice when you are attending the game at the ballpark. And today was an especially nice day. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. (At least I think they were singing. It was a little hard to hear them over the sound of the planes taking off and landing at LaGuardia.) And this afternoon the New York Mets beat the Colorado Rockies 7 - 0 (in well under three hours!).

Johan Santana pitched for the Mets and did an excellent job. And the Mets scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead -- and never let it go.

The spouse and I and our friend M--- had a fantastic time at Citi Field (our first time at the Mets new stadium). And my only regret is that I didn't have one of those ginormous lenses for my Nikon D70. But at least I have the memories.

Play ball!

Mets one game closer to clinching World Series spot

The NY Mets may have only beaten the Cincinnati Reds by a run, 2 - 1, this afternoon in Cincinnati, but a win is a win. And I'll take it. (For those interested, here's a quick recap of the game.)

Johan, Johan, he's our man. If he can't do it, nobody can! Goooo Johan!

One down, 161 to go.

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